Rising Star

by Summer Waters

  “She’s not as good as us,” he chuckled.

  “We’ve had a lot more practice,” said Antonia fairly.

  They left the rubbish by the side of the car and hurried over to help her.

  Once the pufflings realised they were outnumbered they gave up quietly and allowed themselves to be shepherded back to their nests.

  “Thank goodness you came when you did,” panted Claudia. “I’m not as fast as I used to be.”

  “You’re not so bad for an oldie,” Cai teased her.

  As they walked back to the car Claudia announced that she would do the Friday morning puffling patrol.

  “It’s going to be a long day for you both with the meeting after school.”

  “We can manage!” Antonia and Cai protested.

  “I’m sure you can, but tomorrow it’s my turn,” said Claudia firmly. “Put the rubbish in the boot. We’ll take it home with us.”

  Antonia had a sudden feeling that Claudia missed being a Silver Dolphin. She hadn’t given up completely, and filled in when Antonia and Cai were away from Sandy Bay, but it wasn’t the same as always answering the call. Antonia knew only too well how it felt to be left out. Her stomach churned uncomfortably at the thought of Lauren’s party. Had Lauren given out some of her invites today? Or would she wait until tomorrow when she could embarrass Antonia by handing them out in one go?

  “See you at school,” said Cai, when Claudia dropped her back home.

  “See you at school,” agreed Antonia, wishing she could somehow find an excuse not to go.

  Chapter Eight

  It was nice walking to school with Sophie the following morning. Antonia had missed their early-morning chats.

  “I told Lauren that I wouldn’t go to her party,” Sophie confided. “So did Cai, Toby, Alicia, Isabel and Rosie. They all thought Lauren was being mean.”

  Antonia sighed, glad that Lauren had given out some of her invites, but fed up with her nastiness and how she was dividing the class. “I didn’t mind not being invited,” she said. “But I did mind being not invited so publicly.”

  “When are you coming round to see my cat jewellery?” asked Sophie.

  Antonia shifted her overnight bag into her other hand.

  “I’m staying the night at Cai’s and then I’m surfing tomorrow morning, but I’d love to come in the afternoon if you’re around?”

  “Great,” said Sophie. “That’ll give me a bit longer to make some more pieces. I’ve had a brilliant idea for a bracelet.”

  At school Antonia hung her overnight bag on her peg before going into the classroom. Lauren followed her in and began a loud conversation with Becky about what she was wearing for her party. It was going to be a long day. That morning Mrs Howard set the class a maths challenge, then spent most of her time helping people. Moving around the class, the teacher wasn’t aware of Lauren’s taunts and the way she kept deliberately knocking Antonia’s things from the table. Antonia kept her mouth firmly shut, digging her nails in her palms to stop herself from retorting each time Lauren “accidentally” threw something else to the floor. When the lunchtime bell went Antonia hung back, pretending to be finishing her maths work to avoid a confrontation with Lauren in the cramped cloakroom. When she was the last one in the classroom Antonia handed in her book and went out to lunch. The cloakroom hadn’t cleared. A laughing crowd of her classmates were being entertained by Lauren.

  “And here we have the latest fashion in pyjamas.” Lauren held up a familiar-looking pair of star-patterned pyjamas. “Not to my taste, but luckily I don’t have to wear them.”

  The group laughed as Lauren tossed the pyjamas aside, picking up a fluffy pair of polar bear slippers. “Look at these! Aren’t they so last year?”

  There was a loud roaring in Antonia’s head. Blood rushed to her face, making her cheeks flame with embarrassment and fury. Those were her things! How dare Lauren go through her bag!

  “Stop!” she bellowed. “Give those back. They’re mine.”

  It was satisfying to see the surprised look on Lauren’s face, but Antonia was too angry to dwell on it. Holding out her hand she marched straight up to Lauren.

  “Give me back my bag.”

  “Say please,” jeered Lauren, whisking the bag out of Antonia’s reach.

  “Give me my bag.”

  Lauren pulled out Antonia’s favourite teddy bear and wiggled it in front of her face.

  “Mr Bear didn’t hear you say please.”

  Something inside Antonia snapped. White-hot anger coursed through her, making her react without thinking.

  “That’s because I didn’t say it,” she shouted. “Why should I say please to someone as silly and mean as you? I can’t believe that you’ve been allowed to move up to Year Six. My little sister’s got more sense than you and she’s in Year Three. You’re not clever and you’re definitely not funny. You’re plain sad.”

  “You’re the sad one,” said Lauren, tipping Antonia’s bag upside-down and strewing the contents around the cloakroom. “I mean, who wears stuff like this?”

  “Enough! I am ashamed of you, Lauren Hampton.” Mrs Howard stepped into the cloakroom and fixed Lauren with her deadliest stare. “Would it be so funny if it was your nightwear being held up for inspection? I think not. Pick up Antonia’s things at once, then go and stand outside the staffroom. I will deal with you shortly. And the rest of you, outside now until you are called in for lunch.”

  The class melted away as a red-faced Lauren retrieved Antonia’s things and furiously stuffed them back in her bag.

  “I’ll do it.” Antonia pulled the bag away from Lauren and finished repacking it. Lauren flounced off to wait outside the staffroom and Antonia scanned the floor to check that she hadn’t missed anything.

  “Antonia…”

  Antonia glanced up in surprise. She’d forgotten abut Mrs Howard.

  “I’m sorry about that. It won’t happen again.”

  Antonia blushed. “Thanks,” she mumbled, then hung up her bag and hurried outside.

  Lauren was very quiet that afternoon and completely ignored Antonia. It was a huge relief when the day ended and Antonia was able to go to Sea Watch with Cai. They arrived out of breath from running. Claudia was pleased to see them.

  “The meeting’s at four o’clock. Leave your school bags up at the house and get in the car while I tell Sally that we’re going out.”

  She strode off to talk to Sally, an adult volunteer who often looked after Sea Watch when Claudia was elsewhere.

  Antonia’s stomach fluttered nervously. Could they persuade the builders to be more careful with their rubbish? And would they be prepared to build a fence to keep the pufflings safe? After leaving her bag in the kitchen Antonia climbed into the car with Cai.

  “Aunty Claudia, are you going to brush your hair?” asked Cai hesitantly, when Claudia joined them.

  “Pardon? Oh!” Catching sight of herself in the rear-view mirror, Claudia grinned. “I am a bit on the wild side.”

  Using her hand Claudia smoothed down her unruly curls and rubbed a smudge of dirt from her nose.

  “We’ve been busy today. Someone brought in a stray dog. He was really dirty and full of fleas.”

  “A dog!” exclaimed Antonia. “Are we taking in pets now as well?”

  “No we are not,” said Claudia with a laugh. “There simply isn’t room. But the lady who brought him in didn’t have a car so asked if we could take him over to the local dog shelter. Now when we get to Crane Point remind me to get the plastic you found yesterday out of the boot and take it into the meeting.”

  There were pufflings near the road when they arrived at the building site. Claudia stopped the car to let Cai and Antonia get out and herd them back to the cliffs.

  “Shall we take more photos?” asked Cai.

  “No need,” said Claudia. “The ones you took yesterday are brilliant. If the foreman needs more evidence he can come and see for himself.”

  Antonia was even more nervous as
they walked towards the building site. What if the foreman refused to help them? They had managed to protect the pufflings this season, but what about next year and the year after that? Tightly crossing her fingers, she willed the meeting to go well.

  Chapter Nine

  Claudia collected the plastic packaging and a folder from the boot of her car then led the way on to the building site through a gate in the temporary metal fence. The moment they stepped inside a builder collared them.

  “Can I help you?” he asked.

  “We’ve an appointment with Mr Wilson at four o’clock,” said Claudia pleasantly.

  “Right-io! Wait here please and I’ll get you kitted out.” The man walked up to a long white trailer, opened the door and disappeared. Several minutes later he reappeared carrying an armful of bright yellow clothing.

  “What the…” exclaimed Cai. “I have a bad feeling about this.”

  “Sssh,” said Antonia.

  “Health and Safety regulations,” said the builder. He handed round bright yellow high-visibility jackets and matching yellow helmets.

  “Is the meeting over there then?” asked Cai, pointing at the building works.

  “No, but every visitor who comes inside the compound has to be kitted out in the correct safety gear. It’s the regulations,” explained the man.

  Antonia’s hat was too big for her and kept slipping over her eyes.

  I’d have thought your hat was a bigger danger than the building site.

  The voice in Antonia’s head was Claudia’s. Antonia glanced up and Claudia winked. Antonia grinned back. The building site with its huge, noisy machines was a scary place and she was glad Claudia was there too.

  They followed the builder over to the trailer and up the metal steps. The trailer groaned and the floor rocked as they filed inside. It was the same sensation as being on board a boat. The trailer was brightly lit with fluorescent lighting and had a small reception area where a bored-looking woman was typing at a computer.

  “Mr Wilson’s visitors,” said the builder, leaving them at the desk.

  “Sign in, please. You’ll need to wear one of these.” The lady stopped typing and slid three enormous visitor badges across the desk.

  “I’m beginning to feel like a Christmas tree,” muttered Cai.

  Antonia swallowed a nervous laugh as she pinned the badge on her visibility jacket. The walls of the trailer were thin and they could hear Mr Wilson talking to someone on a telephone. At last it went quiet, then the trailer rocked as he moved to open his door.

  “Claudia Neal?” He extended a hand and shook Claudia’s vigorously. “Bill Wilson. Good to meet you. “And who do we have here?”

  “Cai Pacific,” said Cai, boldly offering his own hand.

  “Good to meet you, Cai.”

  “Antonia Lee,” said Antonia, shyly shaking hands.

  “Come in then, take a seat. Pull up an extra one from over there. Now, how can I help?”

  Claudia laid the plastic wrapping on the desk alongside her folder containing the photographs of the puffins and their young. She breathed deeply, then began to talk slowly, clearly and with passion in her voice as she explained the damaging effects that the building site was having on the local environment. There was a deep silence when she’d finished, broken only by the scratch of Mr Wilson’s pen as he rapidly made notes on a lined pad. At last he put his pen down and Antonia, who’d almost forgotten about breathing, exhaled.

  “The rubbish is inexcusable,” said Mr Wilson, his voice grave. “We have a responsibility to be good neighbours and clearly we are failing that duty. I will speak to my site supervisor. We should not be polluting the area. We can also do something about the puffins. I suggest we run a temporary metal fence alongside the road while the building work is in progress.”

  “That’s fantastic. Thank you,” said Claudia, her sea-green eyes crinkling up in delight.

  “But what about next year? When you’ve gone…” The words were out before Antonia could stop them.

  “Next year is a little more complicated,” said the foreman, carefully choosing his words. “The obvious solution would be to construct a permanent fence, but that would cost money. The economic climate being what it is means that we are constantly looking to reduce our overheads. I’m not sure that our parent building company would be prepared to go to such an expense. Naturally it would affect our unit price, which we are trying to keep to a minimum.”

  Antonia’s head whirled like it did at school when she didn’t understand a problem. Whatever did Mr Wilson mean?

  “You’re saying that a fence is too expensive,” stated Claudia.

  “Yes.” Mr Wilson shifted uncomfortably under Claudia’s unwavering stare.

  “What if we paid for it?” asked Antonia. She thought about her pocket money, knowing it wouldn’t even cover one fence post. But the puffins needed a fence. The puffling patrol had been successful, but it took up so much time. It would be impossible to keep an eye on the birds forever.

  “I’d have to ask my bosses. I can’t see a problem, but landscaping is important when selling our properties. I’ll need to check that a permanent fence would fit with the overall design. It will be expensive. Does your charity have that sort of money?” Mr Wilson asked.

  “We could raise it,” said Cai determinedly.

  “Yes,” agreed Antonia. “We’ll collect it somehow.”

  Mr Wilson leant forward in his chair. “Good for you,” he said, smiling. “It’s refreshing to see young people taking an interest in their community. Let me know what you plan to do and I’ll see if I can get down and support you. And don’t worry about your patrol tonight. We’ll get that temporary fence up straight away.”

  There were more handshakes, then Mr Wilson escorted them back to the compound gates where he reclaimed their high-visibility jackets and helmets. As they left the compound Antonia saw Lauren’s dad. He stared at her, then, realising where he’d seen her before, grinned nastily and flapped his arms. Antonia felt a sudden pang of sympathy for Lauren. No wonder she was so unpleasant with a father like that!

  “I’m glad you’re staying the night, Antonia,” said Cai, as Claudia drove them back to Sea Watch. “We can start planning how we’re going to raise the money for a fence straight away.”

  Antonia was glad too. There wasn’t any time to lose. They had to get a permanent fence in place before the builders moved off site and took their temporary one with them.

  Chapter Ten

  It was a busy weekend. First thing on Saturday morning Antonia and Cai went up to Crane Point to check on the puffins. True to his word, Mr Wilson had erected a temporary fence alongside the road. Antonia and Cai stood on the verge with their noses pressed to the closely meshed wires and watched the pufflings waddling around the rocky cliff top.

  When they got back they talked about the ideas they’d had to raise money. Cai wanted to hold a sponsored surf competition and Antonia suggested a cake sale. But Claudia thought the best idea was an old-fashioned Bring and Buy sale.

  “People bring their unwanted things to sell, and buy things other people don’t want,” she explained. “It’s very easy to set up and usually very popular. You can sell cakes there too.”

  “Where would we hold it?” asked Cai. “It needs to be somewhere we can attract lots of people. Can we bring our unwanted teachers to sell?”

  “Or classmates,” joked Antonia. “Actually, you’ve just given me an idea. Let’s ask Mr Cordier if we can hold our Bring and Buy sale in the playground after school. There’s always a ton of parents and grandparents around. We’d make a fortune. Maybe we could set up some games too, like Bash the Rat.”

  “Is that the one where you put a bean bag down a drainpipe and someone has to try and hit it with a rounders’ bat as it slides out? I love that game!” cried Cai.

  “You could do apple bobbing too, seeing as autumn’s on the way,” Claudia suggested.

  For once Antonia couldn’t wait for Monday morning
, when they could ask their head teacher if he would let them hold the Bring and Buy sale at school. She rehearsed what she would say during her surfing lesson and fell off her board three times because she wasn’t concentrating. She also told Sophie about it when she visited her on Saturday afternoon. Sophie thought it was a great idea too.

  “I’ve got lots of toys I don’t play with any more. You’re welcome to those, and I’m sure Mum will make you some cakes for a stall,” she said generously.

  On Sunday Cai and Antonia talked about making advertising leaflets to hand out at school.

  “Parents will love us if they can persuade their kids to clear out their rooms,” said Cai.

  “Not if they’re going to buy someone else’s stuff instead,” said Antonia. “We’ll have to be careful how we word the leaflet and make sure we emphasise the games we’re organising too.”

  Monday morning came at last and Antonia’s stomach felt full of dancing butterflies.

  “Let’s ask Mrs Howard if we can go and see Mr Cordier now,” said Antonia as they went into the classroom. “I can’t wait until break time.”

  Mrs Howard was curious about why Antonia and Cai wanted to see the head teacher. When she heard their plans for a Bring and Buy sale she grew very excited.

  “This fits in perfectly with the ‘Helping Our Community’ work,” she enthused. “It never occurred to me to do something so practical. Go and see Mr Cordier now and tell him you have my full backing.”

  To Antonia and Cai’s delight Mr Cordier immediately agreed to the sale.

  “We’ll hold it Friday week. That should give you plenty of time to get organised,” he said.

  There was a real buzz in the classroom when they reported back and Mrs Howard abandoned her first lesson to talk about the new project. The only person who didn’t seem pleased was Lauren.

  “It’s a good thing the sale isn’t this Friday,” she kept repeating. “Cos that’s when my party is.”